Bloomberg Businessweek writer Paul Barrett chronicles the 20 year long legal battle waged by human rights lawyer Steven Donziger in a new book. Donziger won an unprecedented $19 billion for Ecuadorian tribes whose lands were devastated by Texacos oil drilling in Ecuadors judicial system. However, Donziger ultimately lost the case when Chevron (which bought Texaco) sued him in the United States under federal RICO statues -- used for prosecuting organized crime -- for fabricating evidence and intimidating witnesses. After 21 years of litigation, all of this fighting in the courts has not cleaned up one barrel of rogue oil, Barrett said. What you have here is someone who invoked the rule of law to hold a big corporation accountable, but then undermined the rule of law.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 23:30:01 +0000